JAM FINE ARTS

Happy news! I applied for Fermilab's Artist-in-Residence Program. It's something I've been wanting to do for years but my portfolio wasn't where I wanted it to be until this year. The slide show above is the pool of images I used for the application.

In other news, I'll be in Art 101: A Regional Art Exhibition at the Oak Park Art League September 1 through September 30. The juror is Sarah Cox the curator from the Elmhurst Art Museum.

At work we just finished up the summer concert series and we are promoting Lewis Achenbach's show. I am working on the next show for Dorothy Bury Shaw's beautiful art and poetry exhibit. She is our spotlight artist for Arts DuPage Month.

Here's my statement of intent from the Fermilab application:
STATEMENT OF INTENT
​
I have been an avid Fermilab Arts and Culture fan for years. I’ve attended many art shows, science talks, and tours at the facility. I’ve taken my children, their friends, and nephews to the Fermilab annual open house several times. I have always had an interest in keeping up with cutting-edge science news. Although I cannot claim to be able to understand many of the science papers or  technology specs surrounding cutting-edge laboratory experiments, I’m an avid reader of popular science books, blogs, and  podcasts. Science discovery can be beautiful or chilling, but knowing how the world works and how to work with it is just as much a human undertaking as the Arts.
 
I understand that Robert Wilson, Fermilab’s founder, had a similar philosophy. Although scientists no longer expect new science to always be beautiful, artists will always have the freedom to find the beauty in scientific revelation and the wonder of discovery.

I hope that the attached portfolio of images of my past work will adequately convey how much science, mathematics, and technology inspire my work.
 
‘Floe’ is a series in progress. ‘Floe’ is a documentation of extant geologic ice and appreciation of climate science.
‘Oceanic Panopticon’ was created to celebrate Earth Day 2021. It is a woven bead mosaic of the Pacific ocean (courtesy of satellite imaging) on a convex security mirror. It is an appreciation of climate science. 
‘Juicy Sunrise’ is a wistful piece about the promise of fusion energy. It was created on a disco ball. When lit correctly, it appears to have a glowing center in the middle like the NIF’s fusion reactor at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory.
‘Outgrowth’ is a series of installations built from soft, pliable, hyperbolic biomimetic forms that I wove out of just beads and thread.
“π Series” is woven in a continuous expanding circle using color coded digits of π. Creating them was like orbiting around the ‘moon,’ ‘sun,’ and abstract field of view in the night sky.  
‘Galaxy Cluster’ is a mosaic of woven galaxies on an upcycled globe vase. 
‘Cosmos’ is woven to suggest a black hole.

My intent, if given the opportunity to be an Artist in Residence at Fermilab, is to learn as much as I can about the current and proposed experiments being worked on at the laboratory. I would then interpret what I’d learned about those endeavors into beautiful works of art. The Fermilab Art Gallery is a great exhibition site. I would take the exhibition space into consideration while designing the body of work.

Thank you for considering me for Fermilab’s Artist-in-Residence Program for 2023. It’s a thrill for me just to apply.  Either way, I always enjoy the artists that the judges choose each year, and I know I will be delighted again this year!

Celebrating its 101st year, the Oak Park Art League (OPAL) proudly announces a regional call for art work with Art 101: A Regional Juried Exhibition.  OPAL is looking for work that best demonstrates the artist's use of materials and mastery of skill in their chosen medium.  
Artists are invited to submit up to 3 images that best represent their current artistic practice.  
Submissions are open to artists over 18 years of age, living in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. 
All mediums will be considered. (drawing, painting, mixed media, digital/new media, printmaking, photography, ceramics, fiber, glass, sculpture).
Size is limited to 48” in its largest dimension. All work should have been created in the past 3 years.
Juror:  Sarah Cox, Manager of Collections and Exhibitions, Elmhurst Art Museum
Dates to Remember:
Call opens:  March 18th, 2022
Submission deadline: Friday, July 15th, midnight
Email Notifications of Acceptance: August 1, 2022
Delivery of work: August 22-27, 2022
Exhibition dates: September 1-30, 2022
Opening Reception: September, 9th 7-9pm
SUBMISSION VIA SUBMITTABLE ONLY - LINKImportant Information:

• Accepted work should be shipped or dropped off to our Carriage House Gallery at 720 Chicago Ave. Oak Park, IL 60302 and arrive between August 22nd and 27th.
  
• OPAL reserves the right to reject work that is significantly different from the original submission.
  
• All accepted work must remain on display through the duration of the exhibition.
  
• Submission fee is $40 for up to three images of work. One additional image will be accepted for each 3-dimensional piece at no additional cost.
  
• All work must be ready to hang. Work that arrives with saw tooth hangers will not be installed. Works with frame hanging wire and D-rings preferred.
  
• Incomplete submissions will not be considered.
  
• Submission fees are non-refundable.
  
• All shipped work received, MUST include a prepaid shipping label for return of the work. OPAL will not ship work without this prepaid label.
  

Juror Information:
Originally from Geneva, Illinois, Sarah Cox is the Manager of Collections and Exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum, in Elmhurst, Illinois. She works closely with artists, curators, and creative groups to create innovative exhibitions. She also manages the Mies van der Rohe design home, the McCormick House, located on the museum’s campus. Previously, Sarah was the Manager of Collections and Exhibitions at the Zanesville Museum of Art, in Zanesville, Ohio. She earned her BA in Studio Art and Art History from Illinois College and her MA in Art History and Theory from Northern Illinois University. Sarah has also interned at the Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, National Hellenic Museum, and the Geneva History Museum.

Artist statement on the three submitted pieces:
​"Throughout my career, I have created a distinct body of woven bead mosaics on canvas, panels, salvaged glassware, and other objects. My work evolved out of an interest in environmentalism and upcycling. I create my mosaics on second-hand or salvaged objects. These three works have been layered over salvaged security mirrors. I enjoy working with glass on mirror for the added luminosity from the light bouncing back through the glass beads. In addition to glass beads, I also weave reflective beads into the designs. Again, this adds another luminous effect that, in these pieces, also references the reflective phenomenology of water and ice. I weave the bead mosaic tiles out of new beads, but the supplemental beads between tiles are often second hand.

These three pieces are from an exploration of environmental issues surrounding climate change. "Oceanic Panopticon" is a study of the Pacific Ocean that is one of largest engines of Earth's climate. "Permafrost Panopticon" and "Morteratsch Glacier" are from a series of pieces in which I am calling attention to bodies of geologic ice while they still exist."